How old is your library card?

     I've been sitting here for a while thinking about someone I saw in the library the other day.  He was a very dapperly (is that a word?) looking man in a dark blue suit, nice shirt and tie, hair combed just so, and carried a nice cane.  He'd come to the library with his daughter.  He was just visiting, he said.
     Mr. Stephen B. Hudgins (they call him Steve) used to live here in Moultrie on 3rd Street Southeast.  He's now living in Ocala, Florida, and he's now 91 years young.  His mother and father were Harold and Hortense Hudgins; his dad was a salesman and his mother a housewife.
     The impressive thing I saw as I watched from a short distance was that Mr. Hudgins had his library card with him.  Not one of our current plastic things, but one of those peach-colored cardboard ones that were given out so long ago.  The really impressive thing was that Mr. Hudgins' had received his library card back in 1928!!!  And probably more impressive was that he still carried it!
     Well, that got me to thinking...how long had I had my library card?  Let's see...since I arrived here in Moultrie in 1996.  It's one of those plastic things, like all my credit cards (all two of them).  Then I began to wonder how many library cards I'd had in my lifetime.  More than I can remember!  But I do know that everywhere I've lived, I have had a library card.
     Just think about it yourself.  How old is your library card?  And what do you do with it?  Keep it in your desk at home or carry it in your wallet or purse?  And how often do you use it?  If you don't use it on a regular basis, you're sure spending a lot of money buying stuff you could get for FREE here at your hometown library.
     And you never know, if you've moved off to somewhere else and you still carry that card in your pocket, you'll have it available when you come back to Moultrie and need to check out a book to read while you're visiting family or friends.  Or need to use a computer because yours is at home.
    A library card is a wonderful thing...whether it's plastic or tin or even  peach-colored cardboard.  Use it.  Don't lose it.  It's your passport to a world full of knowledge and imagination.